Sunday, March 24, 2013

Bet you can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post. Me neither. I guess we have some catching up to do...

Last week my sister from Alaska came down for a quick visit. Kelley and her two boys James and John were down in Seattle for 3 days to see some medical specialists. You see Alaska has specialists in taxidermy and gold mining, but anything that requires a education of more than 6 years is done in Seattle. I kid Alaska, I'm just jealous that your state gives you $2,000 per person, per year, and mine charges a 50% tax on alcohol... Anyway, it was great having them in town. The girls LOVE their cousins. Even though they hadn't seen James and John in over a year, the girls bossed them around like they were old friends. We had a great time taking them to the Woodland Park Zoo and sharing their company. The Schmidt house is always open for visitors.

The evening after my sister went back to AK, the girls were running around the house playing tug-of-war. From what I could see, it was supposed to be Reegan and Caitlin versus Anya, but I'm pretty sure Caitlin was only pretending to pull on the rope. Anya gave a yank and Reegs went falling into our living room, two stairs below our kitchen. It was right around bed time, so when Reegan started crying hysterically we chalked it up to crankiness. We put their pajamas on and sent them to bed. About an hour later, Reegan woke up screaming. She was complaining that her arm hurt and refused to move it. After 2 more of these episodes throughout the night, we figured we'd better take her in.

The next morning we went to Urgent Care and learned that Reegs had broken her arm, just above her elbow. It isn't a bad break, just a buckle fracture, but she'll will need to be in a cast for the next 6 weeks. That means you lucky people in MN will get to see Reegan sporting a 5 1/2 week old cast when we come visit. Funky!

The other Roses are doing well. Caitlin recently had her ears pierced. One day while Mom was out of town for work, Caitlin decided she was ready to get her ears pierced. When I explained to her that it hurts, she responded, 'Dad, I got four shots at the Doctor and didn't cry, I think I can handle two more.' While she was right, she did in fact get 4 shots without crying, she doesn't exactly have a good track record of physical toughness. With my better half absent to talk some sense into me, I loaded the girls up and headed over to Claire's. Caitlin picked out her earrings and sat in the chair like a champ. The piercing specialist (the 18-year-old girl who was working at Claire's so she could get 20% off body jewelery, which probably amounted to a greater benefit than her minimum wage as she had 9 visible piercings...who was also from Alaska) had me fill out some very important paperwork while she sterilized all the equipment. When they finally shot those earrings through her little earlobes, I was expecting screaming and tears. But nothing. She just sat there smiling and holding a mirror. What women will put up with for beauty.

Anya's smile looks more like a Jack-o-Lantern than the cute little pumpkin we've grown to love. In the past 2 months she's lost 4 teeth and has forced the tooth fairy to review her finances to make good with the tooth payments. While the cost of tooth enamal is going up in the fairy market, so too is the expense in obtaining said tooth. With the way the fairy housing market is going, it's tough to make ends meet...

When asked what the tooth fairy does with the teeth they collect, Anya responded in a very Cliff Clavin fashion, 'They make sculptures.' Obviously.

Alicia and I have been doing well too. Alicia is loving the challenges of her new role. She travels quite a bit more than she used to, but as the girls get older, it is becoming easier for me to handle them by myself. My days are busy running kids from place to place. I haven't been able to ref very much this year as it hasn't seemed to work out with our families schedule. With my free time I still go to the gym quite a bit, I planted a garden, and I play volleyball at least once a week. The life of a real playboy.

We have 2 trips back to MN planned, one at the end of April and one in the middle of June. The girls LOVE going home to visit the Farm and Papa and Nana.

Tip of the Day - Apparently your arm bone is somehow connected to your ability to go to the bathroom in the toilet. Ever since Reegan broke her arm, it's like she digressed 2 years in potty training. Plan accordingly.